red tape

noun

: official routine or procedure marked by excessive complexity which results in delay or inaction

bureaucratic red tape

… enterprisers that show how people across the Nation are coping (or not coping) with such problems as unemployment, the budget deficit and Government red tape.

—John Weisman

… pompous officials (often lowly clerks) in love with red tape who delight in obstructing the expedition of what should be simple procedures.

—Norman W. Schur

Initial plans became irretrievably mired in the red tape of building permissions.

—Bella Pollen

Their plan is simple enough and none too glamorous: create a Web site to help people cut through red tape; i.e., pay for parking tickets and so on.

—Sarah Kerr

Examples of red tape in a Sentence

You would not believe the red tape involved in getting the required permits.

Recent Examples on the Web

Even small housing projects are subject to lengthy entanglements in red tape as costs escalate. —Dan Walters, The Mercury News, 10 Mar. 2025

For example, cutting red tape that inhibits business creation could expand the economy. —Howard Gleckman, Forbes, 7 Mar. 2025

Democrats also argue that many people who are in fact working would fall off program rolls and lose coverage if they get caught up in red tape. —Peter Sullivan, Axios, 27 Feb. 2025

Michael Nguyen / NurPhoto via Getty Images At home, Merz wants to slash regulatory red tape and corporate taxes while tightening Germany’s borders in what critics say is an attempt to ape his rivals on the hard right. —Alexander Smith, NBC News, 22 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

from the red tape formerly used to bind legal documents in England

First Known Use

1736, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for red tape

• agape
• escape
• landscape
• lenape
• reshape
• seascape
• soundscape
• ape
• cape
• crape
• crepe
• drape

Kids Definition

red tape

noun

: rules and regulations that waste people's time